Most mornings Daniel makes breakfast. We usually have poached eggs on homemade english muffins served with sliced tomato or an omelette filled with spinach, carmelized onions, and feta cheese served with homemade homefries. Once in a while I make breakfast. If it is a weekday, I usually try to make something healthy like slowcooker steel-cut oats with apples, nuts and dried cranberries. The weekend, however, is time for something a little more decadant. I like to make different types of pancakes. Some of my favorites are pumpkin spiced pancakes, pancakes topped with blueberry sauce and whipped cream or just plain fluffy pancakes topped with butter and maple syrup (the real kind). This past Saturday, Daniel wanted something new and found this recipe for me to make. It was really easy to make and really yummy. Make sure you choose a nice tart apple to balance the sweetness of the maple syrup. My parents have an old apple tree that produces white tart apples in August which I was lucky to have on hand, but granny smiths would work just as well. The pancake is a nice thin, almost crepe-like pancake. This recipe was so good it was actually requested the next day as well.
The Recipe:
Pancakes:
1 cup flour
2 tbsp cornmeal
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk + 1 tbsp vinegar allowed to sit for 5 min)
1 cup plain yogurt
1 egg
Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk the buttermilk, yogurt and egg in another bowl. Add dry ingredients and stir until just blended but still lumpy. Let rest for at least 10 min (this resting period is key to a tender pancake because it allows the gluten in the batter to rest). While the batter is resting start making the Maples glazed apples (See below).
To cook the pancakes, heat a griddle or large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Spread a thin coat of butter over the griddle (no olive oil here, butter goes much better with pancakes. . .and you'll notice there is no fat in the pancake batter, I removed it from the original recipe so that I could cook the pancakes in butter). Drop batter by 1/3 cups on the griddle and cook until brown on the bottom and bubbles from on top. Turn pancakes and cook until the bottoms are golden brown.
Transfer to a plate in a 125 degree F oven to keep warm.
Maple Glazed Apples:
2 tbsp butter
3 tart apples (eg. Granny smith)
1 tbsp plus 1/2 cup real maple syrup
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (good for stabilizing that blood sugar spike you'll get when eating these)
Peel and core the apples and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat (butter burns quite easily so becareful!) Add apples and 1 Tbsp maple syrup.
Saute until apples are tender and golden brown on each side (about 5 min). Mix in remaing maple syrup and cinnamon. Heat through and then take off the burner.
Spoon apples over pancakes to serve, passing around additional maple syrup. Yummy!
